As many of you know, Medicare reimbursement to physicians is currently being cut by 20%.  Medicare is already one of the poorest paying insurances that physicians deal with and the “hassle factor” is extremely high.  The reimbursements rates have not been increased since I have been in practice despite rising overhead costs.  These changes will force many doctors (including myself) to stop accepting Medicare patients.  Government cannot expect physicians to continue to provide care under these conditions.  I would encourage you to contact your representative and encourage them to fix this problem.

Quitting smoking is one of the hardest things to do and many of our patients struggle with quitting.  We frequently ask our patients to quit smoking before and after surgery to help them get the best results with the least potential complications.  Smoking causes a decrease in blood flow to the blood vessels involved in the healing of surgical wounds.  This can lead to inadequate oxygen getting to the tissues and ultimately death of the tissue.  Additional surgery is often required to remove the dead tissue.

Arizona has a hotline and website designed to help you quit smoking.  The phone number is 1-800-55-66-222 and the website is ashline.org/refer.